Scott Keeps Daly As DJJ Secretary
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TALLAHASSEE (NSF) - In a move that was widely expected, Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday named Christy Daly as secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
Daly has served as interim secretary since July, following stints as deputy secretary, chief of staff and legislative director.
"Christina has provided strong leadership at the Department of Juvenile Justice and shown a commitment to improving the lives of Florida children,'' Scott said in a prepared statement.
The move followed an announcement Monday by the governor's office that juvenile arrests are at their lowest level in more than 30 years, after an 8 percent drop in 2013-2014.
"This decrease in arrests over nearly every juvenile offense category, including serious offenses, shows that DJJ's reform initiatives are working," Daly said.
The announcement of Daly's appointment came as Scott fills out a leadership team in preparation for the start of his second term in January.
Former Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters led the agency throughout most of Scott's first term, retiring on June 30 before later taking a position with the lobbying firm Ballard Partners. During her time leading the agency, Walters carried out a series of reforms that emphasized prevention, intervention and the rehabilitation of youthful offenders.
In June, Scott signed into law a measure formalizing the department's strategy of shifting funds to prevention programs, with the aim of keeping kids out of the juvenile system in the first place. It also creates criminal penalties for abusing or neglecting teens of all ages in the department's custody and requires the department to provide the Legislature with annual reports on the outcomes for all its programs.
As secretary, however, Daly also will have to grapple with issues such as long-running disputes with counties about sharing juvenile-detention costs.
Walters said Daly would do an "outstanding" job as secretary.
"She will be continuing not the work I did but that she was doing for four years," Walters said. "I don't think I would have been as successful a secretary if it were not for Christy and her knowledge of Tallahassee."
Before coming to the department, Daly worked at the Florida Network of Youth and Family Services, a non-profit that serves homeless, runaway and troubled youths. She has a bachelor's degree in social work from Florida State University.
"Christy is very experienced," said Children's Lobby spokesman Roy Miller. "She's worked in the non-profit community and at DJJ under various administrations. She has an understanding of what it takes to work with the advocacy community."
"The News Service of Florida Margie Menzel contributed to this report."
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